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Behind the Headlines Brought to you by the NHS Knowledge Service
Jump to full article: National Health Service (NHS) (uk), 2009-09-18
Intro: “Cigarettes and alcohol will take 10 years off your life,” announces The Independent. The newspaper reported that for the first time doctors have quantified the effects of smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, described as “the three major killers of middle-aged men”. Failing to give up smoking or to control blood pressure and cholesterol were reported to reduce life expectancy by 10 to 15 years.
The Whitehall study that provided the data set for this new publication is a large cohort study that started in 1967. It provides over 30 years of follow-up data for cause-specific mortality in a large population of civil servants. This study found that there has been a clear improvement in rates of cardiovascular deaths across the decades, and also an improvement in the control of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, in addition to a reduction in smoking rates. However, despite this, those with the combined risk factors of smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure when aged 50 were found live an average of 10 years less than those without. The study has only been conducted in a specific population of men but the findings concur with the numerous other health studies demonstrating the impact of smoking, blood pressure and cholesterol upon health and mortality. The study did not specifically assess alcohol use.
Where did the story come from?
This research was conducted by Robert Clarke and colleagues of University of Oxford, University College London Medical School and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation and Medical Research Council, and was published in the British Medical Journal.
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